The present invention relates to a self-luminous safety indicating device which can be attached to the clothing or the body of the user and functions to provide a warning to drivers of automobiles, bicycles, or other vehicles (hereinafter, referred to collectively as "vehicles").
Conventionally, for indicating the presence of a pedestrian or a worker along a road at night to drivers of vehicles passing along the road, thereby preventing an accident from occurring, a self-luminous indicating device designed to be attached to the clothing or body of the user has been proposed (See for example, Unexamined Japanese Utility Model publication (Kokai) No. Sho. 62-9289.) In the proposed indicating device, as shown in FIGS. 28 and 29, a flexible indicating plate 53 is provided on its surface with a light reflecting unit 50 and a luminous indicator 52. The luminous indicator 52 is constructed of a plurality of light emitting devices 51 such as light emitting diodes, or light emitting chips (hereinafter, such light emitting devices are referred to as "LEDs"). The indicating plate 53 is combined with a belt 54. The belt 54 is wound around the arm of a pedestrian or a worker so that the indicating plate 53 is fixed thereto. The indicating plate 53 is powered by a power source unit 55 to emit light, and it may also reflect light, so that the presence of the pedestrian or the worker is indicated to drivers of vehicles, thereby ensuring the safety of the pedestrian or the worker.
However, a prior art indicating device of this type has problems as described below. The LEDs 51 are arranged on the surface of a flexible substrate 56, and the surface of the flexible substrate 56 is covered in such a manner that the light emitting portions of the LEDs are exposed. The back of substrate 56 is covered by the surface of the belt 54 itself. This configuration necessitates that the indicating plate 53 and the belt 54 only be used in combination. Accordingly, there arises a problem in that the indicating plate 53 and the belt 54 cannot be used while being separated from each other, so that they, particularly the indicating plate 53, cannot be used in another manner or for other purposes. Furthermore, when the indicating device is attached to the arm of a user, the indicating device is located only on the one side of the arm of the user to which the device is attached, and the warning indication is provided only on that one side. This causes another problem in that the indicating device is inferior in visibility for drivers of vehicles which approach the user in various directions.